Sitting at Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar enjoying a long black coffee mid-ride, I decided to take a few photos over the brick wall of bicycles on the Bicentennial Bikeway. I will try to take some better photos another day.
Bumblebee: my Cell Bikes fixie (that is actually a singlespeed)
Project Beetlejuice now has a frame — a 56 cm track/fixie frame from Cycling Deal. Follow the build progress here. The challenge with this build is going to be to not overcapitalise the frame. While it is tempting to up-spec various parts, this is still going to be a budget build.
Boxed Cycling Deal fixie/track frame TF-56W
Cycling Deal fixie/track frame TF-56W
I met up with four guys riding fixie bikes around the Brisbane River Loop on the weekend. Two of the fours guys were riding these track/fixie frames from Cycling Deal. They were very happy with the frames, although one guy had needed a shim to make the seat post fit.
The 56 cm frame/fork/headset was advertised as being 2.4 kg; by my kitchen scales, the frame is 1752 grams and forks are 882 grams — a total of 2.634 kg. That is a bare weight without the seat post or headset supplied with the frame. I also have not cut the steerer tube yet.
The frame and forks were well packaged in plastic bags and bubble wrap. The welding is ugly in places — this is a cheap frame and I guess that is the price you pay.
There are several old posts on the internet where people have had to use shims to get the seat post to fit correctly. I had hoped that this problem may have been fixed with later model frames, but on first inspection this does not appear to be the case. I will look at this more closely when I actually go to build the bike. Update: it looks like the seat post does fit correctly in my frame without needing a shim.
The 1/2” X 1/8” KMC Z510-HX silver chain on my orange singlespeed, Wonder Woman, is a thing of beauty. The photos do not do it justice, but in the sunlight it gleams and has a slightly industrial edge to it. The chain is chunkier than the chain on my other singlespeed. Nice.
KMC Z510-HX silver chain
I am collecting parts for a new bike build, code named Project Beetlejuice. This is a Elite Custom Race Resin Cage in stealth black. On my scales, it weighed in at 42 grams.
I have started collecting parts for my next bike build project. I have named the build Project Beetlejuice because I want this bike to have a hint of wild side. The bike will be a singlespeed.
This is the first part of Project Beetlejuice, a Selle Italia SLS Kit Carbonio Flow saddle. According to my scales, it weighs in at 215 grams.
I rode from the finish of the Brisbane to the Gold Coast Cycle Challenge to the train station, about 11 km according to my GPS. Fortunately the strong headwind in the last 20 km of the Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge was a tail wind to the train station, so it was a pretty easy ride. I would recommend trying to hook on the back of a bunch though because there are 70 km/h and 80 km/h zones to ride though, and it helps visibility if there are several of you on the road.
My Cell Bikes singlespeed at the train station
Train was jam packed with bicycles, so there was no hope of the inspectors moving through the train to check tickets
Train was jam packed with bicycles, so there was no hope of the inspectors moving through the train to check tickets
This guy rode the Brisbane to the Gold Coast Cycle Challenge 100 km on his fixie, in thongs. Apparently he has several bikes in the shed, including a carbon fibre Specialized road bike. What you can’t see, is the back of his shirt was custom printed with something along the lines of, “Gears are for queers”. Apparently he got lots of comments as he rode past geared road bikes!
If this is you, send me some more details about your bike and I will post them here.